Health insurance companies pledge to speed up authorization process

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) - Major health insurance companies, representing about 75% of covered Americans, are pledging to speed up the "prior authorization" process, Dr. Mehmet Oz announced Monday.

"It frustrates doctors, it sometimes results in care that is significantly delayed, it erodes public trust in the health care system," Dr. Oz said.

That process happens when health care providers request approval from insurers before providing care. Oz, who oversees Medicare and Medicaid, says it's an administrative burden.

"Each week on average a physician handles about 40 of these preauthorization issues and requests and spends about 12 hours a week on paperwork," Oz said.

Doctors who double as lawmakers joined the announcement.

Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall shared a story of a patient who took time off work for a surgery: "only to be told the morning of her procedure that the insurance company had added another step to the prior authorization and canceled surgery."

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says insurers will now limit which claims require pre-authorization.

"The cost of administration is enormous to our healthcare system, and we're going to be able to eliminate a lot of those costs," Secretary Kennedy said.

Oz says they've also agreed to be more transparent.

"Public dashboards are going to reveal to you and to patients what's going on," Oz said.

North Carolina Congressman Greg Murphy, who is also a urologist, says getting insurers to come to the table is a good step, but time will tell whether it works.

"We're going to hold them to the fire continually to make sure they're doing what they're saying they're going to do," Murphy said.

Among the insurers who signed the pledge: UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, Cigna and more.